shallow waters
by angxlinx.241190
Summary: Anahita was born in the deepest depths of the Mediterranean ocean, content with her life under the sea. However, certain events cause everything to change for the young siren and she feels as though the massive hole in her heart will never heal. That is until she meets Peter Parker. peter parker/oc story
1. Chapter 1

**chapter one: "you look so cold"**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from any original character or plots. Everything else belongs to Marvel. **

As a young child, Anahita found it hard to fall asleep. The darkness seemed to eclipse her room, leaving her terrified of sleeping. Often, she had nightmares of the creatures which roamed within the shadows. Her father, Vas, crafted fantastical tales of adventure and magic to quench her fear, staying with her until she slept. He would always tell her how endless his love for the little girl was, after all, he had nothing else to love.

Anahita's mother had died when she was a baby, meaning that she had little to no memories of her. The only memories she had of her mother was of a woman singing down to her in her crib. Her hair was purple and long and she smelled sweet. However, her face was cloudy and Anahita's father didn't have any pictures or drawings of her so she would never truly knew her face. Nereida, her mother, had been murdered by a group of men whilst Vas was out hunting. He arrived back to find his daughter, screaming and crying, whilst the Nereida's body slowly bled out on the sandy floor.

Thankfully, Anahita didn't remember that day or any of the days which followed her mother's death. Her father had buried Nereida's body at the end of the garden and planted flowers over it.

That was 12 years ago.

Anahita was out in the garden, gathering sea plants for herself and her father to eat when a loud bang sounded from the direction of her house. Her head snapped up in alarm and she stood up rapidly from the ground, the strong muscles in her legs rippling under her turquoise skin as she sprinted toward the sound.

"Papa?" her melodious voice called out.

Everything was silent. When her father didn't reply, she began to slowly walk up to the back of their small house where she had seen her father working before she left to sit in the reeds. Just as she was about to call out again, her father's panicked cries made the temperature of the water which surrounded her drop 10 degrees.

"Anahita! Get out of here! Run-" reached her hyper-sensitive, pointed ears before a sickening squelching noise cut off any speech. Dread filled Anahita as she continued to creep toward her house.

"Papa?" she spoke quietly; anxiously. There was no noise except the sound of her heart pulsating. She pushed open the front door, stepping inside.

The inside of the house was a ruckus: the colourful flowers which she had picked the day before were strewn across the floor and what little furniture the family possessed, had been upturned and ripped to shreds.

Although she wanted to cry out for her father, she didn't, knowing that whatever had happened wasn't going to be solved by her screaming her head off. Instead, she tiptoed on through the house, looking for signs of her father or the source of the mess. Turning around a corner and entering her room, she spotted four claw marks etched deep into the wall. Her slim, blue fingers trailed lightly along the carvings before she spun around and headed back towards the kitchen area. Apprehensively, she stepped inside completely, feeling oddly relieved when she didn't see her father's fallen figure. Despite this, her relief was short lived as within the rippling water, the dark-blue, sickly colour of siren blood swirled.

She gulped and as she breathed in, the scent of her father overwhelmed her senses. At that moment, she felt incredibly light-headed. Her legs shook and her breathing accelerated as panic set in. There was a sharp, stabbing pain in her chest, in her heart. She fled the room, speeding out of the house and down the steps leading toward the entrance, silent tears dripping down her face. Just as she reached the bottom of the stairs, she tripped on the final step, colliding with the long sea-grass which grew outside her house. She didn't even attempt to get up and ignored the warm, syrupy blood which oozed from the cuts on her palms from the fall. She only moved her body to curl into herself. With her light blue arms pulling her long legs up to her chest, she sobbed loudly.

Her cries of agony and distress were carried along by the ocean's tides so that all the creatures of the sea heard her sorrow. Anybody who heard the siren's melancholy song instantly felt themselves feeling exactly what Anahita felt. Every person within 30 miles of Anahita's location could feel her intense sadness and it was as if they were under some type of compulsion spell. People on the beaches of Balos were walking into the ocean and not coming back up for air, others were throwing themselves off the cliffs into the sea. Nobody could control their actions, it was like some type of primal instinct had taken over and there was no way of stopping it.

Within just 10 minutes, over 200 people were already dead yet nobody could explain what was going on. The elders of the island warned people of evil creatures which lurked in the depts of the sea, luring poor, undeserving souls in with their hypnotising voices and their otherworldly beauty. Everybody began to plug up their ears, not wanting to risk hearing the siren's song. Even the normally rebellious people were smart enough to avoid going anywhere near the ocean.

However, this didn't mean that the deaths still didn't continue.

Unexpecting travellers on holiday had no clue about the noise, leading to them being the first to be influenced by the cries, after the first initial wave of people who died. They were soon followed by anybody who accidentally listened, not plugging up their ears properly. Within two days, half of the island was dead.

The authorities who didn't die instantly managed to get the majority of the area's population out of the hazard zone and the government was soon involved. Nobody knew what the hell was happening, but if there was one thing that they knew for sure it was that drastic action was needed; help was required as soon as possible. So they called the only person they could think off: Tony Stark.

**Welcome to my new fanfiction! This story is going to be a Peter Parker/oc fanfiction because I'm literally obsessed with everything Tom Holland, Spider-Man and Peter Parker. thanks for reading. bye.**


	2. Chapter 2

**chapter two: "sing me to sleep"**

* * *

Tony Stark was sitting in his workshop when the call reached him. It was 3 o'clock in the morning and although he should really be sleeping, he was tinkering with one of his Iron Man suits. He had been in the workshop all day: his dark grey t-shirt was stained with grease from where he had wiped his hands on the fabric and his dark hair lay strewn across his forehead messily. The permanent dark bags under his eyes and the constant need to yawn portrayed how tied he was and just as he contemplated turning in for the night, his phone rang.

The shrill sound of the mobile ringing startled the mechanic and he questioned who would be calling him so early in the morning. After locating his phone under a large pile of junk metal, he accepted the call and lifted the cell phone towards his ear. On the other end of the phone, the voice spoke quickly; too rapidly for Tony to understand anything.

"Rhodey? Can you, like, slow down there. I have absolutely no idea what you are saying," Tony said, interrupting his best friend

"For God sakes, Tony! Have you not been watching the news or reading the papers"

"I have more important things to do than finding out who's sleeping with who or whatever stupid stuff celebrities have been doing this week, thanks. Why would I watch the news?"

"Tony, turn on the tv."

He called out into the empty room, telling FRIDAY to show him the news. Multiple stories from various newspapers and videos of people screaming as they watched their loved ones die filled the hero's vision. Tony's eyes widened. He had believed that he had dealt with enough evil and catastrophe to last a lifetime but clearly he was wrong. He pulled the mobile back up to his ear.

"Tell me everything."

* * *

Although the 'Stark Internship' was just Peter Parker's excuse for him being Spiderman, he still attempted to go to the Avenger's facility whenever he was free. It was a safe place where he was able to be Spiderman and Peter without the whole world discovering his secret. And the training equipment was pretty awesome too.

However, when Aunt May dropped him off on Saturday morning, the usually relatively quite building was bustling with life. Peter could see people dressed in lab coats crammed together through the glass walls and agents swarmed the facility. Amongst the chaos, Peter's sharp, chocolate eyes spotted Tony Stark talking with a female scientist, pointing and discussing something on a tablet. Peter was about to walk over to him when he was stopped from entering by a burly security guard who glared down at the teen.

"You're not going in there, son. You should leave," the mountain of a man spoke, his voice low and gravelly.

"W-Well, you-I...I need to talk to Mis-Mister Stark."

"No,"

"Okay,"

Even though he knew that he could easily get past him, Peter didn't even attempt to argue with the guard, not wanting to create a scene or get kicked out. But before he was made to leave, he was saved by the very man he wished to see.

"Let him through, Agent Harris. He's fine," Tony said from behind the man before Peter was all but dragged by Tony far away from anybody else. Suddenly the billionaire stopped, causing Peter to nearly crash into him.

"What are you doing here, Peter?" Tony stared accusingly at the teenager which made him look down at his scuffed trainers.

The real reason that Peter had made his aunt drive down all the way from Queens was that he wanted to actually help. He felt as though his powers were being wasted. Of course, he loved being Spiderman; swinging by all the skyscrapers in Queens, saving people and stopping criminals was his passion and that would never change. But when he had watched the news that morning, he knew that his superpowers could be used for something other than saving cats from trees or walking grandma's across the roads. He knew that he didn't want to be an Avenger at this stage in his life yet that didn't mean that he couldn't lend a helping hand to them; especially in extreme situations.

And the situation was extreme.

Since the first initial wave of deaths, more coastal areas close to Crete were being affected. To be safe, all people living near Crete had been warned not to go near the ocean or any beaches. Yet nobody was a hundred per cent sure what was going on. The news coverage depicted maps of the Mediterranean sea, where scientists had estimated that the peculiar death song was coming from.

And that was it. That was all anybody knew about the strange phenomenon.

Some speculated that the military had been testing out new LRAD weaponry (Long Range Acoustic Devices) and the technology had malfunctioned. Others feared that it was the beginning of the end. That mystical creatures secretly living in the deep were coming up to the mainland, to take over the earth, killing all human life.

Personally, Peter had no idea what to believe. Now that he knew that aliens existed (after the battle of New York), the possibilities were endless about what could be causing the depressing sounds that drove people to death. After all, like 80% of the ocean hasn't even been explored yet! There could be completely anything hiding in the deep blue waters.

Now, Peter would say that he was a relatively good liar- he HAD kept the fact that he was spiderman hidden from everyone one AND nobody had expected a thing.

Maybe.

Still, when Tony Stark, the man behind Ironman, Peter was left stuttering as if he was six years old again and was still learning to speak properly.

"W-Well, you see-I um uh, Well- you-"

"You're not coming, Parker."

"But Mister Stark!" the teenager whined instantly, sounding like a child.

Tony's eyebrows were raised high on his forehead as he stared at the boy which he had grown to care for. He had expected the boy to want to investigate with him as soon as he saw his sad, watery puppy-dog eyes staring at him from the entrance when he was blocked by Agent Harris. The older man had no idea what to expect when he- and the small group of scientists going- sailed toward the sound. He didn't want to risk Peter being involved in yet another life or death situation; especially if he could prevent it.

"No, Peter. We have no idea what's out there and I'm not risking anything," Tony announced, eyes hard.

Peter pouted yet didn't say anything, surprising Tony. He would have thought that the kid would have protested more, considering how much he clearly wanted to go. All the curly-haired teen did was grumble a reply under his breath and kick his feet against the flooring.

Just as Tony was about to speak more softly to the boy, his name was called from behind him and he turned toward the exclamation to see from who it had come from.

Glaring at him from across the room was one of the scientists which he had been talking too before he abandoned her, to go and talk to Peter. And, from the angry look he was receiving, she clearly was not happy about him leaving their conversation unannounced.

Turning back around from her withering glare, his brown eyes once again settled on Peter. The kid stared up at him, eyes widened with that stupid puppy-dog look that should be illegal.

"No, Peter," he repeated, his lips quirked into a small smirking. "And stop it with the puppy eyes! I'm not changing my mind." Did the kid honestly believe that he could make him change his mind?

Instantly, Peter's pleading gaze turned sheepish as he blushed bright red and stared at the floor.

"I just wanna help, Mister Stark," he said in a quiet voice.

"I know, Pete. But it's too dangerous."

Peter opened his mouth as if he were going to say something else, nevertheless, before he would utter a word, Tony spun around and walking in the direction of the female scientist who had been waiting for him to come back, her face looking grumpy.

"I'll have Happy drive you home before I leave," Tony threw over his should, waving his hand in the air nonchalantly.

Peter glared at the floor; he felt like he was being treated like a baby. All he wanted to do was help! Tony didn't understand it. The young hero's chocolate eyes flickered up toward the large screens presenting various images of the course the team would be sailing on and the gigantic ship they were going to use. His eyes zoomed in on one of the screens which a daydreaming agent stared at.

Peter's brain ticked for a second, his thoughts swirling rapidly. Slowly, a sly grin crept onto his lips, brightening his once-downtrodden face.

Peter had a plan.

* * *

**chapter two of ****_shallow waters_**** is finally here! this literally took me ages and I don't know when I'm next going to update. although, I'm going to update ****_killing all our lies_**** secrets next, which is my Sherlock fanfiction and so if you haven't already, check that out! thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

_**three: "i thought i saw you"**_

* * *

Peter's plan turned out to be a bad idea. A really bad idea.

Peter had no clue why he had believed that sneaking into Mr Stark's boat was a good plan. He hadn't even thought about the sea sickness which was now making his stomach churn or the fact that the whole ship would be covered in cameras meaning he would be unable to leave the room without being spotted. He was finding it hard to focus on anything apart from the slow rocking of the ship on the waves that was making him want to puke up his guts.

Because he was unable to move from his uncomfortable position, crouched in the cargo room, his legs had soon gone numb from the way that they were twisted within the small amount of space which was available.

On the bright side though, he had discovered that all the wooden boxes that surrounded him were filled with various different foods and drinks for the crew. At least he wouldn't have to worry about starving to death or becoming dehydrated, right?

Peter had managed to smuggle his way into the ship by sneaking into one of the vans carrying supplies to the massive ship that he now sat in, bored stiff by the bland storage room. He had been in there for less than an hour and he was already starting to get antsy. The room which he sat in was too dark and cramped and the fact that the tin prison that he was in was moving was not helping his agitation.

Peter had packed his spiderman suit in his backpack, however since he didn't want to draw any attention to himself, he stayed dressed in his jeans, t-shirt and hoodie. He instead decided to pull on his mask and talk with Karen to entertain himself, having nothing better to do.

The young hero was sprawled out between two large crates when his growing boredom was interrupted by a loud creak. He shot up from his reclined position, his head poking out from the maze of boxes, listening for any noises coming from the door, which led to the rest of the ship. Despite Peter's super-human hearing, he thought that maybe he had imagined the sound and just as his head started to fall back down against the cold steel floor, another creak echoed through the room. Peter twisted his body into a crouched position, and slowly moved toward the entrance of the room, making sure to remain hidden. He still didn't want to be spotted by anyone on the crew. He had already seen Tony's disappointed face and he did NOT want to see it again.

As he edged closer, Peter's hearing picked up on the different sounds coming from outside of the silent room he had trapped himself in. The watery claws of the ocean rushing against the side of the boat, waves spitting in a bitter frenzy. Slicing through the waters, Stark's high-powered engines puffed and moaned as the ship pushed through the deep blue. Peter found that the gushing of the waters was peaceful amongst the cacophony of the man-made machinery's whines.

But he was unable to remain content and calm as there was another noise overshadowed by the louder sounds.

Footsteps. Someone was coming down the stairs.

Crouching behind one of the larger crates, Peter clutched his backpack straps in his hand and slowed his breathing. From his position, he couldn't directly see whoever it was who just entered the room, however from the shadow cast on the wall, he could tell that they were stood in the doorway. Light flooded the once dark room, blinding Peter's vision as his eyes adjusted to the bright light. The teen squinted his eyes at the floor as coloured dots danced across his vision.

The figure slowly advanced, the rubber soles of their shoes squeaking against the floor as they moved in Peter's direction.

Inside, Peter was completely panicking. His mind was screaming at him to do something. Anything. His body seemed to tingle all over; it was as if somebody was telling him to move, run or fight.

* * *

The first time he had experienced the feeling, Peter was in school, walking towards his locker to collect his textbooks for his next lesson. The teen had tried to ignore the tingles, thinking that maybe he was coming down with the flu or something. The little hairs on the back of his neck and covering his arms had stood up to attention and the buzzing had increased, making it harder to concentrate on opening his locker. Yet he still chose to ignore the feeling of danger.

Stupid.

Peter had just pried open the door to his locker when it was violently slammed shut again, the boy's left hand catching in the metal door. He had cried out and yanked his now-pulsating hand back, cradling it to his chest. His 'spidey-senses' (as Peter had begun to call them) screamed out again as he was forcefully pushed into the side of the lockers, causing him to fall down and drop his backpack.

Eugene 'Flash' Thompson had stood over his fallen form, smirking proudly as he stared down at Peter. The pair stared at each other for a few seconds before the bell rang, breaking the growing tension. Flash's mouth raised into a supercilious grin before he marched off down the corridor, kicking Peter's bag- which lay askew on the lino floor- as he went, causing all his books to scatter across the narrow hallway

Now, Peter knew that he was certainly capable of getting the bully off his back. He was Spider-Man, for God sake! Yet whenever he was pushed around or had his books slapped from out of his hands, he couldn't bring himself to fight back against the boy. It wasn't like he wanted to be threatened every day when walking to his lessons or to always feel Flash and his lackey's beady eyes following him wherever he went.

Peter didn't fight back because he understood why Flash did it. He had heard the whispers and gossip surrounding the boy and his alcoholic father. On one day, Peter had just walked through the school's front entrance, his phone blasting loud music through his headphones whilst he entered when he spotted Flash's black eye. Violent shades of purple and blue painted the boy's left eye and the flesh surrounding the area was red from irritation. Although his muddy eyes were barely visible due to the swelling, Peter's excellent eyesight still caught the crimson colour that surrounded Flash's iris from where blood vessels had ruptured like fireworks bursting in the night sky. As if he could physically feel Peter's gaze, Flash's eyes had snapped to meet Peter's. Peter saw but a glimpse of glumness in his classmates stare before his eyes filled with rage.

Peter had looked away. He hadn't said anything about it. He wished he had said something about it. Maybe then Peter wouldn't have to look at Flash's busted face whilst the other boy took all his aggression out on Peter's own body. Maybe they could have even been friends. So yes, Peter understood why Flash took all his anger out on the younger boy. It definitely didn't justify his actions or make Peter not feel shitty sometimes but he got it.

* * *

So there he was, crouched down and surrounded by pine crates with his spidey sense screaming in alarm. Thoughts raced through his head: The shadow was getting closer. He was going to get caught. Mr Stark was never going to let him on a mission ever again. Stupid curiosity! Didn't you hear that curiosity killed the god damned cat?

Then the figure stopped. Peter's heart was racing as he stared wide-eyed at the huge figure's muscular body which seemed to make the room shrink 10 times smaller with just its presence. The shadow was staring at him, Peter swore that he felt the man's burning gaze. A bulging arm lifted up toward his head and just when Peter believed he had been caught red-handed, the man spoke.

"There's nothing down here. Must have just been the engines making noise,"

Then the man turned around and strolled right out the way which he came, with no hesitance in his gait. Peter listened out for the sound of the clumping of combat boots against the metal stairs before he released a sigh of relief.

"Shit, that was close."

"Yeah, it was wasn't it?"

"What the fuc-"


	4. Chapter 4

**four: "crawling back to my arms"**

* * *

Turned out that Peter had been so focused on the mammoth of a man in front of him that he didn't even notice the smaller, more lean guy sneaking around behind him. So when the soft voice whispered in his ear, Peter nearly shat himself. His surprise at the other agents' sudden appearance meant that the larger man, who Peter has originally thought had already left, was just waiting a couple of steps us the stairs, listening out for the teen to slip up and announce his location.

This led up to Peter being dragged out from the cargo room and up the steps, his scuffed converse barely grazing the steel floor as the two tale men carried him out up to the upper deck. Peter knew not to squirm and attempt to get away because he had nowhere to run to. He was kind of shocked that he hadn't been caught sooner if he was being honest. After all the Tony Stark would have the best surveillance technology on the ship, especially considering the whole mission was supposed to be classified, right?

The two guards, who kept their massive hands tight around Peter's bicep, led him across the main deck. Did they think that he was going to try and run away or something? He had absolutely nowhere to go!

Peter, however, became distracted by his environment as soon as he felt the shining sun beaming down on him. He relished in the refreshing air as the salty wind filled his nostrils and his lungs. Everything was blue. The clear, cloudless sky colliding with the roughly moving waves of the deep blue ocean. The whole scene looked as though it was straight out of a picture book, with the crystal blue waves lapping against the side of the ship and Peter could just make out the distant outline of the port from where they set sail around two hours ago.

As Peter took in his surrounding, in awe of the beauty and peacefulness of the environment, he was pulled towards a huge metal door which looked as though even the guards wouldn't be able to open. His left arm was quickly released as one of the guards, (the smaller of the two) casually strolled up to the door. Peter had to hide his grin as he watched the man walk confidently toward the opening. How was that guy going to open up a door like that? Honestly, the door looked as though it weighed a tonne and not being rude or anything, but the other guy currently still holding Peter's arm had a better chance of wrenching the thing open.

So Peter was shocked when the door was easily unlocked and pushed open. The little guy didn't even break a sweat! As the man at the door turned back around to face his partner, he must have caught Peter's confused and shocked expression because his face broke out into a smirk before he smugly spoke.

"Never judge a book by its cover,"

Internally, Peter cringed. Who actually said that apart from 12 year-olds on TikTok or Primary School teachers who think they're being edgy? Before Peter could think of a witty comeback, he was taken through the now opened door.

Inside was what one would expect when you walk into a ship designed and created by Tony Stark. The architecture was modern and futuristic with white panelling covering all the walls instead of the dark, depressing grey that the rest of the ship seemed to look like. The front wall of the room was completely made out of glass, so Peter could clearly see out towards the sea. With the sun brightly blazing in the sky and the clear azure oceans rippling calmly below him, Peter had never seen something more perfect.

Stood in front of a massive computer screen was the man that Peter had spent the whole time trying to avoid. Tony Stark stood with his back facing Peter, his arms crossed and he was talking with one of the many technicians which were swarmed around him. Sensing the approaching guards, Tony turned around to see Peter being dragged towards him with a sheepish smile on his face. Huffing and rolling his eyes in exasperation, Tony brushed the flocking techies off and walked towards the encaptured teen.

"Really, Peter?" Tony said, striding forward. "You can let him go now, guys. He's fine."

The two guards released their tight grip on Peter's arms before they marched off back through the doorway, out of the room. Peter rubbed his arms as he turned to watch them walk away, muttering under his breath "Stupid guards," as they went.

"Now, that's not very nice is it, young man?" Tony said from behind him in a condescending voice.

Peter winced as he slowly turned back around, hoping that if he maybe didn't think about the fact that Tony was right there then maybe, he might just disappear into fine air.

Obviously, that wasn't going to happen though.

Tony stood with his arms crossed, his eyebrows raised as he stared accusingly at the boy. Unknown to Peter, Tony had anticipated the possibility that the teen's curiosity might get the best of him and he might try to sneak into the ship. Every room (including in the cargo room) had security cameras which were monitored 24/7. As soon as Tony had been alerted of the 5'8'' figure monkeying around below deck, he had suspected that Peter may have snuck aboard somehow. His suspicions were confirmed as soon as he spotted the red mask-covered head bobbing around behind one of the wooden crates. Tony was shocked that nobody had caught a glimpse of the teen before he had been alerted. The kid was definitely not stealthy.

"Mr Stark- I'm sorry- I know that you said that a shouldn't try and come and that it might be dangerous but I'm not a little kid! Please don't be angry with me. I just wanna find out what's going on and- and I wanna help," Peter blabbered, his fingers threading through his hair as he spoke rapidly.

"Didn't I tell you that you weren't meant to be getting involved in this, Peter?"

"Y-yes but...I can help!" Peter announced as he stared up at Tony with determination in his eyes.

"I had no clue that you had the power to breathe underwater, Peter! Woah, I'm so glad that you smuggled yourself onto my ship so that you could help figure out what's truly going on here. You and those spider-powers of yours will truly save us all!" Tony spoke sarcastically, before turning around to look at a hologram of a 3D underwater map.

Peter pouted in annoyance as the older man faced away from him. "Look, I might not have gills but-"

"Peter, you are not leaving this room until we reach dry land and there is no way you are going anywhere that sea," Tony interrupted. "Whatever is going on in there is no joking matter and there is definitely nothing that a pubescent teen can do about it-" "Hey!" "-So you are going to sit in that chair over there and look at the pretty colours of the sea like a good kid. Got it? Good." Tony commanded, pointing to one of the white chairs overlooking the massive window facing out towards the endless oceans in front of them, for he swiftly left the room, leaving Peter no time to object.


End file.
